SDF downplays three ex-ministers joining BJP

December 26, 2017, 3:00 PM IST

Gangtok: The ruling Sikkim Democratic Front led by Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling today said three of its former ministers joining the BJP recently will have no bearing on the SDF electorally or otherwise.

Three former SDF ministers – RB Subba, KN Upretri and Birbal Limbo and some middle-rung leaders had joined the BJP in the presence of Ram Madhav, the party’s national general secretary and North-East In-charge, at the national capital last week.

“These ex-ministers, besides a former SDF leader Prem Karki, have had nowhere to go after leaving the parent party…it will have no bearing on the ruling party electorally or otherwise, now or ever,” the SDF spokesperson KT Gyaltsen told PTI.

Observing that the new BJP recruits from Sikkim have no support base of their own, he wished the ex-ministers’ all the luck in the new party.

Gyaltsen also asked Subba and others to explain their stand on BJP’s political agendas and whether or not they are comfortable with those issues.

On asked whether the joining of three former ministers will bolster BJP’s electoral prospects in Sikkim in 2019 assembly polls, he said that it will be decided by the people of border state as and when elections take place.

Gyaltsen asked the BJP to clarify its stand on article 371(F) of the constitution which protects the rights of the indigenous people.

Madhav had earlier held a closed-door meeting at a posh hotel two months ago with the Chief Minister’s younger brother RN Chamling, an independent MLA from Rangang-Yangyang.